Usenet as A Research Resource

Usenet is one of the best resources for research and education available over the Internet. In many ways, it is more expert and readily useful than most other sources on the Internet. Usenet provides this educational utility through newsgroups. Usenet newsgroups are places where users post and comment on thousands of topics. Many of the articles on Usenet have comments from professionals and specialists who work in industries related to the topic. Usenet makes this form of verifiable Information from credible sources inexpensive and easy to find. Thus, the articles posted by experts on Usenet are a great value. This is a big reason why so many users have made the switch to Usenet.

Usenet and the Research Paper

Students and self-directed learners are always looking for new places to find information for their essays and research projects. Usenet should be the first place to check for ideas and expert comments. There are many educational Usenet newsgroups.  The list of subjects they cover is vast. The only concern students should have when doing research is to not get sidetracked. It’s easy to wander off topic to explore new ideas.  Keeping Usenet newsgroup access centered on work is the best way to make sure that students and learners get their research done quickly.

Finding Information with Usenet Hierarchies

Students and researches can get their work finished quickly because finding information with Usenet is speedy. This speed is enabled by Usenet newsgroup hierarchies. Newsgroups were created to keep the plethora of information on Usenet organized and readily accessible to users. The top heirarchies prior to 1986 were:

comp.* — Discussion of computer-related topics

misc.* — Miscellaneous discussion—anything which does not fit in the other hierarchies.

news.* — Discussion of Usenet itself

rec.* — Discussion of recreational activities

sci.* — Discussion of scientific subjects

soc.* — Socializing and discussion of social issues.

talk. * — Discussion of contentious issues such as religion and politics.

These seven hierarchies have been further refined but will be useful to our discussion to keep it simple. For example if a user wanted to find information related to Usenet etiquette, they should look in: Comp > Usenet  > etiquette. There, the user would find articles which speak to Usenet etiquette.

The Advantages of User Input

Another advantage Usenet has over the World Wide Web for research is user input. Usenet groups permit very speedy comments and replies from users. This works both ways. Users can ask questions of other members of the newsgroup. They can also write articles that help the group understand and use information even better. A Usenet newsgroup is also self-correcting in that when an erroneous article goes up on the newsgroup, members can point out its error.